For several years, the industry has discussed the possibility of opening up the network to give both end users and applications the ability to adjust network characteristics. Undeniably, the potential benefits of such end-user control could be very significant. By giving customers more control, service providers could introduce new services such as bandwidth on demand, "turbo" bandwidth boosts, and increased quality/reliability for specific applications—simultaneously introducing new revenue streams and increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction.

But even though network equipment has largely been capable of delivering such dynamic services, providers have been reluctant—for good reason—to deploy them. The potential for customers to actually harm the network, the billing complications, and the traffic forecasting headaches have prohibited such services from being widely deployed. As both standards and network equipment and software continue to move forward, many of these concerns are being addressed. This talk will address whether the time has finally come when service providers will have the confidence to deploy the dynamic services made possible by opening up the IP network to end-user and application control. Specific topics will include the following:

• Standards-based policy managers: current capabilities, limitations, and potential
• The use of APIs to give software and application developers the ability to affect network policy
• Open source code
• Update on standards
• Discussion of real-world deployments of such services and technologies

Shailesh Shukla Vice President, Service Provider Marketing and Partnerships Juniper Networks

Mr. Shukla works closely with customers, sales, and product management across all product lines to meet the needs of service providers worldwide. He is a well-known industry executive and brings more than 16 years of service provider strategy, consulting, and marketing experience to Juniper. Most recently, Mr. Shukla held several positions at Redback Networks during a seven-year tenure, including vice president of strategy and business development and vice president of worldwide marketing. Mr. Shukla was responsible for Redback's successful relaunch in the market post-restructuring and for re-branding and repositioning of the company.

Mark Bieberich Director, Communications Network Infrastructure Yankee Group

Mr. Bieberich leads a research and consulting practice aimed at helping clients make decisions regarding the investment, development, and marketing of carrier-grade network infrastructure. Prior to joining Yankee Group, he worked as a senior network consultant in the professional services department at Sycamore Networks, where he provided an array of presales support services to account teams and product marketing managers. Before Sycamore, Mr. Bieberich worked for Lucent Technologies as a senior sales education instructor.

Daryl Dunbar Director, 21CN Portfolio Development BT Group

Mr. Dunbar is responsible for ensuring BT has the right portfolio to meet customers' needs and group financial targets, at the same time driving convergent services and solutions for the future. He also champions the collation of innovations from across the business and outside BT and, by utilizing customer insight, in delivering them to the market as customer propositions. He provides critical strategic analysis of commercial market and technology trends in order to assure BT's portfolio is fit for purpose now and in the future.

Paul Harris Solutions Architect, Consumer Solutions Microsoft Corporation

Mr. Harris has been with Microsoft for more than three years as a consultant and architect to telecom providers around the world. His current team is focused on enabling service providers to take advantage of Microsoft Live properties, including Windows and Xbox Live. Mr. Harris' background spans nearly 10 years of telecom, mobility, and wireless experience. Prior to his work at Microsoft, he ran his own mobility consulting company specializing in merging, gaming, and leisure activities with compact form factors and bandwidth.

Tushar Saxena Director of Access Network Design and Integration Verizon

Mr. Saxena is responsible for developing and executing the next-generation digital home strategy for broadband services, including FiOS and DSL. His group also represents Verizon on industry and standards forums such as the MoCA Alliance, DSL Forum, and DLNA. Mr. Saxena was also the chief architect of VoiceWing, Verizon's consumer VoIP service launched in 2004. Prior to Verizon, he held key positions at GE Global Research and BBN Technologies, where he was responsible for the development of a number of key innovative government and military solutions using emerging IP networking technologies.